(PCSD file photos)
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — Two men, one in Stillwater and the other in Perkins, have been jailed on $50,000 bail each pending Feb. 3 court appearances on separate charges alleging they possessed videos of child sexual conduct — in apparently unrelated cases that were both filed on Jan. 14 in Payne County District Court.
Jerame Todd Smith, 57, of Stillwater, has been accused of distributing child pornography on Snapchat and sexting a minor by the use of a Snapchat message on July 15, 2024. If convicted of both counts, Smith could be imprisoned for up to 30 years and fined $20,000, court records show.
As a condition of his bail, Smith has been ordered by Payne County Special District Judge Susan Worthington to have no contact with anyone under the age of 18.
Stillwater Police Detective Stephanie Wheeler alleged in an affidavit filed last week that on July 25, 2024, she was notified of a CyberTip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: “Snapchat reported that an individual had uploaded/shared/saved apparent child sexual abuse material.”
On Aug. 8, 2024, the detective obtained search warrants for information regarding Smith’s Snapchat username, the affidavit alleged.
“There were multiple chats logged with individuals identifying themselves as juveniles and the conversation continues in a sexual manner,” the affidavit alleged. One conversation with a 17-year-old mentioned hypnosis and sexual acts, the affidavit alleged.
In the other apparently unrelated case, William Richard Keel, 41, of Perkins, has been accused of violating the sex offender registration act and possessing child sexual abuse material after a prior conviction for lewd acts with a child and possessing child pornography when he lived in Stillwater in 2010.
Due to his criminal record, Keel could be given as much as a life prison term plus five years if convicted of both counts, court records show.
Keel was living in the Perkins/Tribal RV Park when he was initially arrested at 5:27 pm on Jan. 3 by Payne County Sheriff’s Investigator Rockford Brown and subsequently charged with failing to provide electronic mail address information along with internet communication name or identify information for social networking on his sex offender registration form, court records show.
The investigator alleged in his affidavit, “I told Keel I had a search warrant to obtain his electronic devices. Keel initially was uncooperative and denied being in possession of a phone in either his residence or on his person. Keel was detained while I searched his trailer; following this, Keel told me he had his phone on his person.
“I asked Keel if he would show me the social media accounts to confirm the ones I believed he had. Keel initially cooperated in doing so. I then asked if he would open his photo app and show me that he did not have any illicit photos.
“Keel initially cooperated, but when Iowa Tribal Officer Don Howard asked if he had any hidden albums and then touch the screen, it was populated with what appeared to be photos of nude individuals. I asked Keel what it was of and reached for his phone.
“He immediately began to resist and pulled the phone to his chest. We had to use force to pry the phone from Keel, and while doing so, he attempted to smash the phone on the ground.” Three days after that first arrest, Keel was released from the Payne County Jail on $1,000 bail, court records show.
Keel was arrested a second time at his residence at 4:30 pm on Jan. 9 by the sheriff’s investigator, who had seized his phone on Jan. 3 and taken it to a Secret Service employee at the Oklahoma City field office on Jan 7, court records show.
The Secret Service employee “contacted me the following day and advised he had discovered child sexual abuse material aka child pornography,”
Investigator Brown alleged in his affidavit. Six videos were located including one of a child, age 9 to 13, performing a sexual act on an adult man, the affidavit alleged.
According to court records and the state Department of Corrections, in 2011 Keel had been convicted in Payne County of lewd acts to a child and possessing child pornography for which he was given two concurrent two-year prison terms followed by probation for three years and five years to run concurrently.
In that earlier case covered by The Journal, Keel was scheduled to stand trial in October of 2011, but after prosecution witnesses could not be found, Keel pleaded guilty.
An investigation had begun in March of 2010 after two girls, age 5 and 7, told their mother that while they were at a male relative’s apartment, his roommate “Ricky” — later identified as Keel — fondled them while bathing them, an affidavit by then Stillwater Police Detective Sgt. Jeff Watts alleged.
In that 2010 case, after obtaining a search warrant Stillwater police seized from Keel’s bedroom a desktop computer that had multiple videos of children engaged in sexual acts, including one in a bathtub, the affidavit said.
